Her Little Puppets
by bite-me-im-irish
Summary: Alison smirked and spun around to face him, looking over her shoulder as she eyed him seductively. He shifted uncomfortably in his spot, feeling her already begin to pluck on his strings. But he was no longer a young college boy desperate for love, no, he was a grown man and he was one puppet who would not dance the Alison dance. (Based off the 5x11 promo pic of Ali in 3B).


**I started this a few hours ago and I hope you all like it.****  
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There were two things in Ezra Fitz' life that he was eternally grateful for, two things that he knew for a fact had shaped his life for the better – even if it took a while for said life to sort itself out. The first was that in his final year of college he had decided to go to one of the student bars off campus and read his book 'Tender Is The Night', leading him to stumble upon Miss Alison DiLaurentis. Their brief relationship was… interesting to say the least. But the second thing he was most grateful for was the fact that he had ended it.

He knew that some people in his life, his girlfriend in particular, would be shocked to hear him confess such thoughts and so he never ever would voice them out loud, but he knew deep inside that he would be nowhere had Alison DiLaurentis not struck up that conversation with him all those years ago. But not for the reasons one might think.

See, Ezra Fitz saw it this way: had he never met Alison DiLaurentis, he would never have started to write that godforsaken book, and if he had not have been on the hunt for material he never would have struck up a conversation with a beautiful brunette with hazel eyes in a bar on Labour Day 2010. If there was such thing as fate, Ezra believed that it was the string of events leading up to his meeting the love of his life, Aria Montgomery.

It had been a few months since he was shot in the stomach on the rooftop of a New York high rise and he was so happy to finally say that she was his girlfriend once more. It had taken a lot of heart-to-hearts and a lot of baby steps, but they were happier and stronger than ever now that there were absolutely no secrets between them. Absolute honesty was his new motto in life, and he was glad to say that it was working.

For the first time in months he was waking up with a smile on his face and, more often than not, with a certain five foot two brunette tucked under his arm. They had talked a lot about taking their newly rekindled relationship slowly but once Aria had confessed to sleeping with a random guy after finding out about his lies, it had become very difficult for him to wait. He hated knowing that somebody else had shared such an intimate moment with Aria, and hated even more that it was completely his fault that she had felt the need to do something like that. But he had waited and once they resumed their steamy nights beneath the sheets it had all been worth it, because they knew that they were with the people they were meant to spend the rest of their lives with. And, not to brag, but it was. So. Good.

Their evenings were once again spent watching old movies and eating vegan take-out, and their nights spent together in his bed or on his couch or in his shower or even in the back seat of his car on occasion. They couldn't keep their hands off of each other – and he loved it. On the occasional night where they would gather with the other girls and their significant others to work on solving the continuing threats of A, he and Aria would sit close together with their fingers linked. He knew that on some level, Aria still viewed Ali as a threat to her, one of the main reasons he would _never_ mention how grateful he was for meeting the blonde girl, but he was willing to do everything to prove his devotion to her. Aria was it for him.

When Aria had found out about his book, he had truly believed that she would ever see her again. Often when he was alone in his apartment he could still hear her voice yelling at him, telling him that she never wanted to see him or hear from him ever again. It was heart breaking and he hated being alone in his apartment without her because of it. He liked proof that she was not going anywhere, that she was in it for the long haul just like he was.

It was for that reason that Ezra shot out of his chair at the sound of three loud knocks on his door. He had been sitting around catching up on some grading he was doing for the teens he tutored, hating the silence of his apartment but not being bothered to get up at turn on some music. Aria was not due for another hour, but he was happy that she had arrived early. They were comfortable enough around each other that she would let him continue grading while she would sit on the couch and read or text her friends.

He hobbled over to the door, his legs erupting in pins and needles from sitting still for so long, and unlocked the hatch before swinging the door to 3B open.

"I wasn't expecting you so-" Ezra cut himself off when he realised that it was not Aria standing outside his door, but Alison. She was swaying on the spot, a vacant look upon her face which immediately let him know that she was drunk. Before he could ask her why she was there, she pushed passed him into the apartment. Her denim jacket was falling off her shoulders and her black dress barely went past mid-thigh. She was wearing killer heels that looked razor sharp and he supposed they were half the reason for her swaying.

He shut the door behind him, unsure of how to act. His palms began to sweat because he knew that nothing good could come from having a drunk Alison DiLaurentis in his apartment.

"What are you doing here, Alison?" He asked, not in the mood for her games – especially her drunken games. When they were dating Alison would often drink a little too much and flirt with other guys, trying to make him jealous. He hated it, he hated how she could pull the strings of her little puppets, making them dance and play at her will. What he ever saw in her he did not know. The brief infatuation he had with her was nothing compared to the love he felt for Aria.

Alison smirked and spun around to face him, looking over her shoulder and eyeing him seductively. He shifted uncomfortably in his spot, feeling her already begin to pluck on his strings. But he was no longer a young college boy desperate for love, no, he was a grown man and he was one puppet who would not dance the Alison dance.

"This apartment is so grown up," she commented, looking around her. He noticed as her eyes landed on one of Aria's discarded tops resting on the side of the couch. She swivelled her hair around to look at him, her blonde hair flaring out, "So you." She scrunched up her nose and winked at him.

"Thank you," he replied. "Now why are you in it?"

"We were good together, don't you think?" She asked, ignoring his question and swaying slightly once more. She laughed at herself and kicked off the heels.

Ezra furrowed his brows, was she hitting on him?

"No, I don't think," he told her calmly, or as calmly as he could seeing as his ex-girlfriend/current girlfriend's best friend was hitting on him. "Our relationship was based on lies. Your lies, I might add. It was toxic"

Alison looked unaffected as she scoffed. She took a step towards him and he took a step back. Alison laughed again.

"Why are you here, Alison?" He repeated.

"I wanted to see you."

"Why?"

Alison didn't reply. She shrugged off her jacket and threw it onto his couch. Ezra noted that she was now wearing considerably less than she had been when she entered the apartment ten minutes earlier.

She was now only dressed in the skimpy black dress. It was a dress he would have appreciated her wearing back when they were together, but now the only woman he wanted to see that much of was Aria.

"Do you regret ending it with me?" She asked, "Now that you're seeing her. She's my age. That _was_ what bothered you about me, wasn't it?"

Ezra shook his head, "There is nothing I regret about our relationship."

"So you don't even regret not fucking me?" Alison asked. "You were always so into our make-out sessions."

Ezra's mouth dropped open and he struggled to form a coherent answer to such a question. The answer was, of course, no, but his brain seemed to have stopped working. He had no idea how to fend off Alison's advances. This was all so unexpected. He had always assumed that Alison understood the depth of Aria and his feelings for each other. So much of his time was spent convincing Aria that Alison was not a threat to her, he never even realised that it was possible that Alison would try make herself one.

He watched warily as Alison got up off of the leather couch and made her way over to him, she was somewhat steadier in her bare feet. She stopped mere inches away from his body and rested her hands on his chest.

"I regret not fucking you," she whispered, with her signature flirty twang, "Maybe if I had been honest with you from the start we could still be together. You would be fucking me instead of Aria. Just think of how good it could have been." Ezra remained frozen. He stared straight ahead, making no sort of response to Alison's words. "Think of how good it could still be."

"I love Aria," he choked out after a moment. He reached up and grabbed Alison's wrists, tugging them away from his chest and pinning them to her sides. "You know that I am happy with Aria."

Alison's smile seemed to falter for a moment so Ezra took a step back, putting some much needed distance between himself and the blonde. He walked around her and picked up her discarded heels and jacket before walking back to her and holding them out.

Ali just looked at the items in his hands before smirking.

"You always were such a good guy," she told him. She reached up and pushed his hair off of his face. "I love that about you." Ezra jerked back from her touch.

"I am in love with Aria, Alison," he stated firmly, "And nothing you do or say is going to make me hurt her. You and I are over, we are so over we might as well never have happened."

Finally his words seemed to get through to Alison because she took a step back from him. Although she still made no move to take the things from his hands.

"Everybody has somebody but me," she said sadly, looking down. She sat on the couch and looked down at her hands. "Spencer has Toby, Hanna has Caleb, Aria has you, even Emily is working things out with Paige. I'm just the dead girl who isn't actually dead."

Ezra sighed and placed her things down. He sat on the table opposite her.

"I'm sorry if you feel lonely, Alison," he said, softly, "But coming to my apartment and attempting to seduce me isn't going to help you. I love Aria and I would never in a million years cheat on her." He almost added 'especially with you' but decided against it, he already felt bad for her and didn't want to come across as a bastard – no matter how true the words were.

"I know," Alison said, "You were just my last resort. I went out tonight and everybody recognised me from the newspapers and stories. Nobody offered to buy me a drink or take me home. I'm surrounded by people but I'm all alone." The teacher in Ezra wanted to reprimand Ali for going out alone and for wanting some older guy to take her home, but he refrained. "I wanted to feel something. I want somebody to want me."

"You're not alone, Alison," he told her, "You will meet somebody. But I just don't understand why you would try and do this. Aria is your best friend and she has already been through so much."

Alison looked up at him before shaking her head and looking back down. She seemed to be debating something.

"You two make a really good couple," she admitted. Ezra watched as she wiped a few stray tears away. "I'm sorry I tried to sabotage it. I guess I was just jealous… and I have nothing left to lose. The girls have moved on with their lives." Alison got up and put her jacket back on before slipping on her stilettos. "I should go." She stumbled in the heels and Ezra became aware of just how drunk she was.

"Let me call you a cab," he said. "It's not safe for you to go out alone." Alison, for once in her life, said nothing and sat down on the couch. He placed the call before sitting down at his desk. He spun the chair around so that he was facing Alison.

They said nothing for a while before Alison spoke up.

"Did you really mean it when you said that you regret nothing about our relationship?" Alison asked causing Ezra to nod.

"Meeting you led me to her," he said simply.

Alison smiled, a real actual smile, "You really love her." It was not a question, but a statement. Nonetheless, Ezra nodded eagerly.

"I really do."

"Are you going to tell Aria about what happened?" She asked, suddenly tearful again.

Ezra looked at her, "Absolute honesty."

"She's going to hate me," Alison said, sorrow evident in her voice.

"Possibly," Ezra said. "But she knows that you would never have gone through with it. I know that too."

"How?" Alison asked.

"You're a good person, Alison," he told her, "I truly do believe that. You may go about things the wrong way, but I believe that you have a good heart."

"You're a really good guy, Ezra," Alison said. A car horn interrupted their conversation and they both stood up. "That's my queue."

Ezra nodded and walked her to the door. He unlocked it for her and waved her out.

She turned around at the end of the hall and smiled at him, "Thank you, Ezra." Ezra nodded in response before retreating back into his apartment. He had no idea how he was going to tell Aria about what had happened, or what Alison wished had happened.

"Absolute honesty," he muttered under his breath. His mind was spinning as he tried to come to terms with the conversation he had just had. He felt ill, he felt… dirty. He couldn't make sense of it all, but one thing was for sure: Alison DiLaurentis was definitely back.

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**A bit different to the stuff I usually write so I would love to hear what you think. Follow me on twitter where I shall be tweeting sneak peeks of 'Temptation' or just tweeting about future stories! My username is BiteMeImIrishFF.**


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